Gesundheit
by jbn42
Summary: Some people handle being under the weather a little more gracefully than others, but nobody likes having a cold.


**Author's Note: **Fill for LiveJournal Week 39 Friday one word prompts Snuffles, Blanket, Tea, Rain, Warm and Care for Wash and Taylor. This is complete and total fluff. Fluff, fluff, fluff.

This is set in the context of my other stories, post-series.

**Disclaimer is the same as always – don't own them, just borrowing, no profit here.**

Alicia is waiting by the gate when the OTG team comes through. It's the rainy season, and this has been one of the wettest years they've seen since arriving here. She's wearing a poncho and rain boots, but she has her hood down due to a short break in the weather.

The two rovers slide to a stop, both covered in mud. A moment later, Reynolds climbs out from behind the wheel of one of them and Nathaniel the other. They are both filthy and obviously soggy despite their rain gear. Nathaniel has so much mud on him that his hair actually looks to be streaked with brown.

She approaches, concerned. "What happened? No way you're both this dirty from the ride."

Nathaniel rolls his shoulders. "One of the rovers got stuck in the mud. It took all of us pushing to get it out."

Alicia eyes the rest of them. Reilly, the only woman with them, is somewhat clean except her lower legs, but the rest of them are as dirty as Mark and Nathaniel. Alicia lifts her eyebrow questioningly at Reilly, who is clearly irked. "They went all cave man on me, ma'am. They said I wasn't strong enough and made me get behind the wheel of the rover while they pushed."

"Did they now?" Alicia crosses her arms across her chest and gives Nathaniel a hard look.

He sighs and runs a hand over his face. "Can you yell at me later? I'd really like to shower first, then you can yell at me all you want."

Alicia has to swallow a smile at that, and she hears both Reilly and Reynolds snort, neither of them trying to cover their amusement. Alicia nods. "Fine. Home. Now." She points towards their house. He doesn't argue, just goes – which tells Alicia how unhappy and soggy he must be.

She turns to the others. "You do the same. Reynolds?" He looks worried. "Did you also engage in making Reilly stay in the rover?" He nods reluctantly. "Take the rest of today, but double shift tomorrow. You're on from six am to midnight. One hour break after nine hours. Have fun."

"Yes ma'am." He looks at Reilly. "Sorry, Laura."

Reilly waves and acknowledgement to him and turns to Alicia as he leaves. "Wash, you didn't have to do that."

Alicia smirks. "I know. But now he'll stew about it all night, and then I'll let him off the hook early tomorrow. I just want to make him think twice before he tries it again."

"You know that's mean, right ma'am?" Reilly looks amused.

Alicia snorts. "I do, but they both know better. And now, I believe I have an appointment to yell at my husband." She realizes the rest of the soldiers, mostly younger kids, have unloaded the rovers and are waiting for instructions. "Everyone take the rest of the day. Go get warm and dry. You too, Laura." They all nod and go.

She motions to the soldiers near the gate to do something with the rovers, and then she heads home. Gracie is still at school for a few more hours, so she knows she'll have time to talk to Nathaniel alone. She won't really yell at him, but she is going to grouse at him over it.

When she gets there, she can hear the shower running. His boots are just inside the door on a mat they put there during the wet season. His armor hangs next to hers on a hook, and she pulls off her poncho and hangs it up next to where he put his rain jacket. She sees his shoulder holster on the kitchen table, so she picks it up and takes it to their bedroom.

When in there, she goes to the dresser and pulls out a clean t-shirt, boxers, sweatshirt, sweatpants and socks for him, and she puts it all out on the bed. Hearing a sneeze come from the bathroom, she shakes her head and goes to the kitchen to make him some tea.

Worried that he might end up with a nasty cold or sinus infection, she'd actually tried to get him to let her go on the OTG trip instead of him. It was just a resupply run to an outpost, but he'd insisted. He hasn't gone OTG much lately, as he was just cleared to go a month ago. It took that long for Elisabeth to give him the green light after he broke his ankle on a training exercise.

Another sneeze from the bathroom tells her that her concerns were well-founded. She hears the shower turn off and then the hair dryer come on. Noting that there's a light chill in the air, she goes over to the thermostat and bumps it up a few degrees. As the hair dryer goes off and the bathroom door opens, she calls out, "Clean clothes are on the bed."

He grumbles out what was probably a thank you, and she hears him move towards their bedroom. She returns to the kitchen and pours hot water over a bag of herbal tea that they get in the market, adds a little sweetener, and heads for their bedroom. She gets there as he's pulling on his second sock, the rest of the clothes already on.

She holds out the mug of tea to him, and he takes it with something of a grateful look. She reaches out and brushes his hair down. "So, really? You made Reilly stay in the rover?" Her voice is incredulous instead of angry.

He shrugs. "Alicia, she's not as strong as you are. I wanted out of that damned mud pit as fast as possible. I wasn't trying to insult her, and Reynolds wasn't either." He sniffles a little pathetically.

She motions him up to the head of the bed. "You, down. Now." He obeys without protest, putting his mug on the nightstand and flopping into the pillows. She takes the blanket from the foot of their bed and spreads it over him, and then she sits on the edge of the bed. "I know you weren't, Nathaniel. I know you don't think that way. But next time, just order her to stay in the rover. Don't say it's because she's not strong enough to do something. The young guys heard that, and they'll think it's OK because it came from you and Mark."

He winces. "Damn. I didn't think about it that way. I was just already wet and didn't want to linger."

She runs her hand through his hair again. "I know." She grins. "You should know I gave Mark a double shift tomorrow as punishment. But I'm going to let him off the hook at the end of the first part of it. I just want him to stew on it for a while."

He chuckles. "Not nice, Lieutenant."

"Since when am I expected to be _nice_, Commander?" She drops a kiss to his forehead. "Sleep. I think you're coming down with something. I'm not punishing you because I think this cold is going to be punishment enough."

He frowns and grumbles, nestling deeper into the pillows on the bed. "I'll be fine in the morning."

"Sure you will." She gives him an indulgent smile. "There's some leftovers from last night in the fridge if you get hungry. I need to get over to command, then I'll get Gracie from school. Call me if you need anything."

Instead of a reply, she gets a soft, sniffly snore. She touches his cheek gently, and his skin still feels too cool to her. She goes and gets another light blanket, and she spreads it over him. He curls onto his side, and she's satisfied that he'll be warm enough in his little cocoon.

She heads for the command center, and on the way she's stopped by Carter, Shannon, Elisabeth, and Guz, all surprised that Nathaniel is taking the afternoon off. The only one she talks to at any length is Elisabeth, arranging to stop by the infirmary before collecting Gracie. When she goes by, Elisabeth gives her a pile of throat lozenges and cold medicine for Nathaniel. She also gives Alicia a new herbal tea they've developed to help with his breathing.

Alicia knows he'll fight her on the meds, but she also knows that he needs them. She just hopes he isn't too much of a horse's ass about taking them.

**WT**WT**WT**

_The Next Morning_

"Achoo!"

Alicia winces as a window-rattling sneeze reverberates through the house. Stuffed dinosaur in hand, Gracie comes up and tugs on her leg. "Mama, Daddy is being _noisy._"

Alicia grins and lifts their three-year-old up to perch on her hip. "I know, Bug. He has a bad cold."

"He says he not sick." Gracie looks confused.

"Really? And what do you think about that, little Bug?" Alicia lifts an eyebrow at her.

Gracie seems to think on that for a moment, and then she says, "I think he lying. He has the snuffles like Gwacie had last month."

"You mean the sniffles?"

Gracie shakes her head, black pigtails swinging around. "No, Mama. The _snuffles. _He has sniffles, but he was also snorfling when he was sleeping. So he has snuffles."

Alicia grins again. "Excellent diagnosis, Doctor Bug."

Gracie beams back at her. "Thank you!" Then, her little face gets serious. "Mama, we should stay home today. Take care of Daddy. We can make him soup and wead him stowwies like you did when Gwacie was sick."

She suddenly hears Nathaniel thumping around their bedroom, so she puts Gracie down. "Bug, why don't you get some books for us to read to Daddy, and I'll go check on him."

She grins. "'K Mama! Be back soon!" In a blur of black hair and ribbons, she's gone.

Alicia approaches their bedroom, and she's greeted with the sight of him digging through his sock drawer. "Where do you think you're going?"

He jumps slightly at the sound of her voice. When he turns to look at her, he looks miserable. His cheeks and nose are red, and his eyes are bloodshot with circles under them. "To work."

She shakes her head. "Not a chance, Taylor. Back to bed."

"Alicia, I'm fine." He turns back to the dresser.

She goes over to him, grabbing the ear thermometer as she does. Before he can stop her, she takes his temperature. "100.6. Back to bed, Nathaniel. Now."

He takes the thermometer, verifying what she said. His shoulders drop in defeat. "I hate being sick."

Laughing softly, she takes his hand and leads him back to the bed. "I know. Gracie wants us to stay home and look after you. How do you feel about that?"

"I _should _disapprove."

"But?" She smiles at him.

"But I don't want to be by myself. Can we watch an old movie on a plex?" He gives her a hopeful look, "And maybe you could make some vegetable soup?"

"Yes on both counts. But you know Gracie is going to want to watch _Mary Poppins _again. She's still trying to figure out how the nice lady who talks like Auntie Wisabeth can fly."

He laughs, and that prompts a coughing fit. She pulls the covers back over him as Gracie comes in. "I have books!"

"OK, Bug. You hop up on the bed with Daddy, and I'll go make him some more tea. When I get back, we can read him some stories." She winks at Nathaniel and leaves.

A few hours later both Nathaniel and Gracie are asleep, having drifted off while watching, as Alicia predicted, _Mary Poppins _on the plex. She smiles and settles down with a book, watching over the two of them as they sleep.

**WT**WT**WT**

_Four Days Later_

A much-improved Nathaniel stands at the kitchen sink; he's cleaning out Gracie's cereal bowl from breakfast and waiting for the water to boil for tea.

"Achoo!"

He winces as the loud sneeze comes from their bedroom. Alicia is less than pleased with him, as she now has his cold. He feels a tug at his pant leg, and he looks down. Gracie is there with her little pile of books and her stuffed dinosaur. "Daddy, we need take care of Mama wike we took care of you."

He smiles and crouches down to her level. "I think that's a good idea, Bug. What should I do to help?"

She hands him the books, which he tucks under one arm. "Make tea for Mama, then call Maddy."

He furrows his brow at her. "Why do we need to call Maddy, Bug?" He straightens up to pour the water for Alicia's tea.

"Daddy," she replies, her voice sounding as exasperated as a three-year-old can sound, "We want make Mama feel better. She need food, and you not cook. Maddy cook good."

They both look up at Alicia's snorted laugh and subsequent coughing fit. She's standing at the edge of the kitchen dressed in her own sweats, heavy socks, and one of Nathaniel's sweatshirts, and she has the blanket from the bed wrapped around her shoulders. "She's right, Nathaniel. I need _comfort_ food, not food _poisoning_."

He rolls his eyes and points to the bedroom. Alicia holds out her hand to Gracie, and they head in the direction he indicated. He can't help but smile, though, when he hears Alicia chuckle as he calls Maddy to ask for her help.


End file.
